


Meet the Family

by Flufflybunnypants



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Christmas Eve, Classism, Homophobia, Interfaith Relationship, M/M, Racism, navigating holiday family events, nursey is not chill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 11:50:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9070411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flufflybunnypants/pseuds/Flufflybunnypants
Summary: Take one Irish Catholic family, add one gay, black, Muslim boyfriend, and agitate thoroughly.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The homophobia/racism are briefly discussed. There's also a minor injury. Lemme know if you think this needs more tags.

Nursey and Dex are greeted at the door by a five year old. Dex scoops her up and peppers her face with kisses, exclaiming, "Annie bananie!" She giggles and plants a kiss on his forehead. "Annie, this is my boyfriend, Derek." He turns so she can solemnly offer her hand to shake.

Nursey surprises her by kissing the back of her small hand and winking. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Annie."

"I like him," she declares and then wiggles to get down and dart back inside.

Nursey grins at Dex who rolls his eyes and just shoves Nursey inside. 

It's mildly busy inside, a few little kids running around and some adults chatting in the living room. An elegant lady with red hair to her waist comes up to greet them next. "William, look at you! You've grown up so much."

Dex lets himself be swept into a hug and then introduces Nursey. "Aunt Katie, this is my boyfriend Derek."

She smiles at him and pulls him into a side hug, careful not to jostle the tin in his hands. "Welcome to the madness, kiddo. Hope you can keep up with the mob."

"It doesn't seem that bad," Derek says dubiously.

She and Dex both laugh. "Oh this is just the family that lives within two blocks. There's many more of us coming in. What's that?"

Nursey lets her take the pie tin and follows her into the kitchen. "One of our teammates bakes a lot so he sent that down with us."

An old woman prods something in the oven vigorously before turning with a broad smile to greet them.

"William! C'mere and let me take a look at you." 

Will fakes sheepish reluctance, but  Derek can see him lean into her hug.

"Now, introduce me to the fine young man you brought home," she says, gesturing Nursey over. He waves awkwardly as Dex says, "Nan, this is my boyfriend, Derek Nurse."

"Hi," Nursey says quietly. "Thanks for having me."

"It's Christmas! Everyone is welcome, especially ones that make my boys smile like that." She pinches Dex's cheek and laughs when he turns red.

"C'mon, Nurse, lets go make the rounds." Dex takes his hand and drags him out to meet the family. They're a freckly blur in his head and he can't remember any names really. There's a stream of people constantly coming through the front door, packing the house tightly. 

At some point while they're talking to an older couple, Dex gets taken down at the knees by a heap of children. One minute he's there by Derek's side, the next, he's collapsed on the floor, laughing and threatening to tickle the boy sitting on his chest.

"D'you need a hand?" Nurse asks with mild concern, raising an eyebrow.

"Hah, no I'm fine." Will grins at him. "Go grab a drink or something, babe. I'll find you when these little monsters decide to get snacks." He punctuates that by tickling one child until she screams with laughter. 

Nursey wanders off until he finds some delicious smelling cider and ladles himself a generous cup. It seems to be non alcoholic, but warm and pleasant nonetheless.

"So you're the boy?" A gruff voice from behind Nursey makes him turn so abruptly he nearly upends his cup on himself. It's a miracle he doesn't, given that he's had to leave seventeen Haus parties because of clumsiness-induced incidents.

The man facing him frowns deeply. "Didja hear me?"

"Uh, sorry," Derek juggles his cup and extends a hand to greet the man, who ignores him. "I'm Derek."

"You're not what I pictured." There's a nasty undertone there and Derek can only hope that it's all attributable to the drink clenched in the guy's hand.

He can't even figure out how to walk away safely. All his words have died in his throat. He foolishly croaks out, "What do you mean?"

"We never thought Will would be the one sleeping around with men. And then he brings someone like you to mom's for Christmas? You're probably one of those liberal Black Lives Matter morons, huh?"

"Personally? Yeah, I think it's important to recognize the inherent inequality African Americans face in the US." Derek is holding onto his gentility by a thread. He wants to throw a punch or just knee the guy in the nads but he can't he can't he can't. 

“You know that when this country was founded, Irishmen were treated worse than the blacks? We didn’t whine about our problems, we just worked to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. We didn’t take other people’s taxes and live off of welfare. That’s why we need a man like Trump to fix this country and get rid of the lazy fuckers draining this country dry.”

Derek snaps. The plastic cup in his hand gives way audibly as he clenches his fist. He drops it to the ground and leaves the house as fast as his feet can carry him.

His mind goes blank with rage and he doesn't know how far he’s gone when he stops in a small park. He’s breathing hard and every muscle in his body is taut. He lets out a muted scream and punches the nearest tree. It breaks through the white-hot anger enough for Derek to take a breath and sink onto the nearest park bench. 

“Derek! Hey, Nursey!” Dex jogs towards him, waving frantically.

Derek doesn’t look directly at him, staring down at his fists in his lap. 

“Hey,” Dex’s voice gentles. “Hey, babe.” Dex sits on the bench, a cold foot of empty air between them. Undeterred by the hard set of Nursey’s shoulders, Dex tries to slide closer, but pauses when Nursey sighs shakily and tightly winds his hands into his curly hair.

Dex goes down on one knee in front of Nursey, ignoring how the dusting of snow on the ground soaks rapidly into his jeans.

“I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry I couldn’t intercept Uncle Brian. I’m sorry that you had to deal with that bullshit. And I’m really fucking sorry I wasn’t the first to punch him in the face.”

That startles Nursey enough to make him meet Dex’s concerned eyes. “Wait who punched him?”

“Well first my cousin Sean told him he was a bigoted old fart and then when Uncle Brian took a swing at him, Aunt Eileen socked Uncle Brian in the nose.” When Nursey gapes at him, Dex defensively adds, “I woulda gone after him too, but you’d just run out into the snow and I was sort of afraid you’d die.”

“Your aunt punched him?” Nursey’s a little stuck. 

“Oh, yeah that’s not the first time that has happened. Aunt Eileen’s a preschool teacher, but she is not afraid to wrestle her brothers to the ground until they admit she’s right. So she’s lost dessert privileges tonight, Sean’s getting double dessert for being brave, and Uncle Brian is--once again--disinvited from family events until he satisfactorily apologizes to you, Sean, Aunt Eileen, and Nana.”

“Uh...okay?”

“What he did was fucked up, Derek, and I wouldn’t have brought you into that situation if I knew that would happen. Nana wants you to know she’s also sorry that your holiday break got ruined like that.” He takes Nursey’s hands and makes unhappy noises when he sees the split knuckles on the right hand. “Shit, I was gonna say we could head out if you didn’t want to stay, but we have to take care of your hand first, okay? I might have a first aid kit in the glove box of the truck if you want to do that instead of going home.”

Nursey would love to jump ahead in time and just be back at Samwell, but he hears how Dex says ‘home’ and he knows he would endure just about anything to give Dex his holiday dream. “We-we could go back and maybe rinse this off in the sink? Probably good to borrow some tweezers for the splinters too.” He’s done this before and is unfortunately familiar with the process.

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!” Dex exclaims, reaching up to cup Nursey’s face. “You’re shaking! We better get you home and into warm clothes. God, babe, c’mere.” He stands and as soon as Nursey stands, he wraps an arm around him. Nursey cradles his injured arm close to his chest and leans into Dex’s warmth. 

They walk back in near-silence. It’s not as far as Nursey felt it was when he’d left, something he’s grateful for as he realizes how cold and exhausted he is. The house is much quieter when they enter and Nursey only glimpses a few people before Dex leads him to the back of the house.

Dex lets Nurse rinse his hand off before prodding him to sit on the toilet seat. Dex sits crosslegged at Nursey’s feet, first aid kit in his lap. 

He takes Nursey’s hand and begins to remove splinters, quietly commenting, “I’ve never seen you like that before.”

“Like what?”

“I’ve never seen you that angry off the ice. Not even when I pissed you off.”

“Whoo,” Nursey says bitterly, “you found the man behind the curtain. I grew up black and Muslim, Will. I deal with crap like that more often than I want to, more often than I should have to. There are pretty damn good reasons I don’t show my anger.”

Dex doesn’t pause in his tender ministrations. “I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t understand your life, I can’t understand it, actually, because I’ve lived the opposite life.” He sets the tweezers aside and looks up as he says sincerely, “But I want to. I want you to share that with me. If you’re angry, I want you to feel like you can share that too.” He winds soft gauze around Nursey’s knuckles.

Nursey uses his free hand to brush his knuckles along Dex’s cheekbones. “I do. At least, I’m trying. It’s not easy.”

“In the meantime,” Dex grins wryly as he ties off the gauze, “if you could keep your death defying stunts to a minimum, I’d appreciate it.” He ducks his head to press a kiss to the cold palm of the injured hand. “I nearly had a heart attack when you ran out of here.”

Nursey bends over uncomfortably to kiss his boyfriend, resting the bandaged hand on Dex’s shoulder. It’s an expression of both gratitude and love.

A knock on the bathroom door startles them both. Dex gets up and opens it.

A tiny voice says “Hi!”

“Hey, Annie,” Dex says fondly. 

“I hafta ask a question but I’m sposed to be polite.”

“Alright.”

“Are you and Mr. Derek gonna come to Mass?”

“Uh,” Dex is clearly torn.

“I think I’m going to go to bed early,” Nursey says, “but if you want to go, Dex, you can.”

“Yeah, come wif us Dex!!!” 

“Sorry, kiddo, I’m pretty tired too. I want to change out of my wet jeans and get some sleep,” Dex looks both regretful and apprehensive.

“Oh.” Annie droops a little, but then perks back up. “Will you go caroling with us tomorrow?”

“Sure,” Dex promises her, then looks back at Nursey.

“Um...is it religious?” Nursey is exhausted and he knows jackshit about Jesus songs.

“No, it’s mostly the Rudolph songs and maybe a little Mariah Carey if Aunt Bridget and Great-Uncle Finn get drunk enough,” Dex says with a laugh.

Annie makes a suspicious face and peers at Nursey. “Are you cat-lick?”

“Catholic,” Dex corrects, and then adds chastisingly, “and that’s not a polite question, Anna.”

“No,” Nursey says, in answer to her question. “I’m Muslim, but I don’t go to the mosque unless I’m visiting my mom.”

“Oh. Okay. Do you know Rudolph songs?”

“Yeah, I think I know most of them. You might have to help me out with a few, but I think I can do it.”

“Okay!” She smiles. “I help you then. Night!” She hugs Dex’s knees and then reaches imploringly to Nursey, who obligingly bends down to wrap an arm around her. Satisfied, she darts off back to the living room.

Nursey stands slowly and leans in to kiss Dex in the doorway of the bathroom. He’s interrupted by a brusque cough and faced with Dex’s grandmother looking him in the eye. “Go on,” she says, far too knowingly. “Move your canoodling out of the way. And William, I expect you to take the air mattress, d’you understand?” 

“Yes, Nana.” Dex is bright red as he all but drags Nursey out of the bathroom.

“Wait, the air mattress?” Nursey is too tired to parse that.

“Nana’s pretty progressive, but she still thinks sharing a bed is for marriage and I will not be arguing with her under her roof.”

Nursey laughs helplessly. “I won’t be arguing with her either, babe. She scares me.”

Dex laughs quietly and pulls Nursey into a brief kiss. He breaks away to nuzzle Nursey’s stubble-prickly cheek, like an overgrown cat. Dex’s affection prompts Nursey to say, “I love you.”

“I know,” Dex sighs against the shell of Nursey’s ear. “The fact that you came down with me and dealt with the Poindexter family madness...”

“I still have to thank a couple of them tomorrow,” Nursey interjects.

“I just...you make me feel loved and I hope you know how much I love you because it’s kinda a lot.”

Nursey just stands there, holding his boyfriend and being held in return. Maybe Christmas wasn’t his holiday, but this was good. The only thing better would be bringing Dex home for Kwanzaa next year and letting his sisters chirp them both to death.


End file.
